EP13 日期 Date & Birthday

EP13 日期 Date & Birthday

Say year/month/day in Chinese;

How to ask “How old are you” in China, and how to respond;

All that matters to ages…

Part I Chinese 101

Dialogue:

A：你的生日是哪天？

nǐ de shēng rì shì nǎ tiān？

What day is your birthday?

B：1990年6月1日。今年我27岁。

yī jiǔ jiǔ líng nián liù yuè yī rì 。jīn nián wǒ èr shí qī suì 。

I was born on June 1st, 1990. I’m 27 years old.

Words & Expressions:

【生日】shēng rì; birthday

【哪】nǎ; where or which

哪个: which one

哪里: where

哪位: who

【天】tiān: day；sky

一天： one day

【年】nián; year

*Chinese Zodiac马年: The year of Horse   鸡年: Year of the Rooster   

【月】yuè; month

【日】rì; day

日期：date

【今】jīn: this; now; today; modern

今天: today

今年: this year

今早: this morning

【岁】suì: year; age

Part II Language Tips

• Ways to express “How old are you” and respond

• When, where, and why is it considered rude to ask for someone's age? 

• How can we ask women their age without offending them?

• Is it inappropriate to compliment someone on his age? 

• Stereotyping on age in workplace: How to maintain professional relevance at any age?

Part III Story of The Day

拔苗助长

bá miáo zhù zhǎng

To Pull Up the Seedlings to Help Them Grow

Haste makes waste, Chinese idiom, pull up seedlings to help them grow, describe people who are too eager to get something done, only to make it worse.

心急办坏事，中国俗语拔苗助长常常被用来形容做事太着急的人，往往容易把事情搞砸。

Literal meaning: To pull up the seedlings to help them grow

Explanation: Haste makes waste

Eg.

给小学生教授高等数学,就如同拔苗助长,只会让他们失去学习数学的兴趣.

gěi xiǎo xué shēng jiāo shòu gāo děng shù xué，jiù rú tóng bá miáo zhù zhǎng，zhī huì ràng tā men shī qù xué xí shù xué de xìng qù。

Teaching advanced math to primary school kids is like pulling up the seedlings to help them grow, and only makes kids lose interest in math.